


Death Follows Him

by RoseAndTenForever



Series: Following Him [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Gallifrey, Grief, Pain, Recovery, Time Lords
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-23 18:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseAndTenForever/pseuds/RoseAndTenForever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's lost so much. The Doctor, always losing everything. Planets... Friends... Even machines. Worst yet, his loved one.</p><p>Annalise DeReanna. She knew what she wanted. She had everything and cherished it deeply, eventually losing it all in a blink of an eye. </p><p>When they first meet, the Doctor wants her to come, help him heal but Anna's not ready.<br/>She leaves but several years later, they both have changed, finding each other and realizing that they are different but... alike.</p><p>It hurts both to move on and see another person everyday so similar to the one they loved but... they stay to fix each other up.</p><p>They both heal each other, Anna moving on past both of her her fiancé's death and the Doctor moving on over Rose's murder. Both act more like themselves and are much more happy about themselves.</p><p>He starts to fancy her and she, him. Then, the Doctor becomes very protective of her, preventing anyone from taking her away from him. He keeps her safe, taking her on more mild adventures and caring for her.</p><p>Then when protecting her, blood stains his hands…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The loss of one of our favorite companions, Rose Tyler.

She reached out to the hologram but drew her hand back.

"No touch. I'm just a picture." He said calmly. Inside, he was screaming. Every word he heard killed him just a little bit more. He didn't want to do this, he hated goodbyes and this was going to be the worst.

The girl tried to block out the crashing of the waves, her parents calling her, and the cry of the seagulls. Trying to make the short time the two had last forever.

She tucked a flyaway piece of her blond hair behind her ear, showing her blotchy face and sobbed even harder, each second getting creating a pain that only got worse. "Am I ever going to see you again?" She put her hand up to cover her face and tears but let it fall, not understanding why this hurt so much.

"You can't." His shoulders started to droop. He wanted to hold her tight, never let her go, never letting her leave. He wanted to tell her how she had changed him, perhaps even tell her how his hearts had a name carved in them. But he knew, this would be the last time he would see her almost-in-person.

"I..." The girl struggled to start. _Here we go_. The Doctor thought, already trying to plan out what he was going to say.

"I..." Her next breath shuddered in. "I... love you..." A staggering weight slammed onto both chests. It was pointless and now the girl saw, they were never going to see each other again.

"Quite right too." He sighed, finally accepting the fact human nature had taken control of his Time Lord self. "And if it is my last chance to say it," he paused just for a second. "Rose Tyler,..."

He disappeared, vanished. The hologram disappeared. The girl, Rose, put her hand up to her face and started to cry. Her body racked with sobs and felt her body shake. She fell to the wet and cold sand and her face fell in her hands.

The Doctor stared right where Rose's image was. He reached out to where Rose's picture had come through and could almost feel her cheek where it had been.

He let his tears fall, realizing it was his mind playing tricks on him. He knew there was nothing he could do. Rose was gone. He felt the burden of love on top of everything else on his shoulders.

There was a flash. A flash of light on both sides, both afterimages of holograms creating a bright light. The connections flickered to life as the universes cracked just one inch that would heal itself.

Rose stood up quickly and the Doctor wiped away his tears as the images of the other person appeared.

"Rose!"

"Doctor!!"

"Rose. I'm sorry I can't be there right now. I am so sorr-"

"Doctor, what were you going to say? Are we safe?"

The Doctor didn't care about the crack. He knew it would be alright. He knew he needed to finally say the words... Dear Rassilon the most important words in the universe. The words Time Lords looked down upon but the words humans used so often. He needed to say the words before it was too late.

But it was. He blinked and when he opened his eyes, Rose was panicking.

"Doctor!!" Rose screamed. She turned away from the hologram Doctor and turned back. Her eyes filled with fear.

So many things happened at once and it was one of those horrible seconds where everything slowed down as a horrible event occurred in front of his eyes.

 _One_ : A large and bronze pepper shaker came into view.  
_Two_ : It pointed its gun at Rose.  
_Three_ : The Dalek fired.  
_Four_ : It hit her in the chest.  
_Five_ : The Doctor cried out in pain as if he was the one shot.  
_Six_ : Rose lit up and fell limp on the ground.  
_Seven_ : The Dalek floated over to the Doctor.  
_Eight_ : It spoke.

"This is what you get for throwing all my kind into the void." It spoke in a raspy electronic voice. "You have feelings. I have ex-ter•min~at^ed your beloved Rose. I have killed the Doctor in a way never thought of by the Daleks. That was the last thing I ever wanted. The last thing my kind has wanted. The Doctor dead. You have died." It started to hover in the air and the gold spheres floated. He watched as it vaporized into nothing.

He stared at the fallen woman at the ground, baffled. The Doctor watched as a yellow and gold mist escaped her lips and floated in the air, dissolving over Rose and somehow, returning to his TARDIS.

He sobbed as all of this unfolded before his very eyes and he was helpless to stop it. "My Rose. My red Rose... My pink and yellow human..." He bent over the TARDIS's console and started to scream. BÄD WØLF could not save Rose.

Rose's mother ran to her, struggling to get a good firm plant on the loose ocean sand. She wrapped her now dead daughter in a long embrace.

"Doctor! Tell me she's not dead!!" Jackie pleaded and soon, her father, Pete and Rose's ex, Mickie were there by her side.

"I'm so sorry... I should've been there to protect her."

Jackie started to yell as tears ran down her face. "No!! No-no-no-no!!" Jackie started to cry. Pete wrapped her in his arms and Jackie started to hit his chest, Pete taking it all in stride, rubbing her back gently and whispering soft words.

The hologram fizzed out. It flickered on and off and then, shut off completely.

The Doctor rubbed his face with both hands to wipe away the salty tear trails and to hide the tears, replaced as quickly as he could wipe them away. He knew it was time to leave, time to go and leave the supernova he was in orbit around. The stupid sun he used to say goodbye!! He started to hit the screen of the computer, each time, the punch growing weaker and weaker and the tears stronger and stronger.

He didn't want to leave. This was the closest he could've gotten to her, the closest he could've gotten to saving her. He collapsed over the controls sobbing pitifully. There was nothing I could've done...

He hit a button and the TARDIS shook, starting the sequence for flight. The Doctor slowly pressed all the buttons and set the coordinates. With a final pull of a lever, the TARDIS shook. The blue police box whirred away.

It landed hard on the ground. This time, the Doctor didn't care where he was. He needed some peace. Some quiet. Somewhere to mourn alone.

He opened the doors toward him and stepped out into the freezing mountain air. Not London this time. America. Philadelphia. July 1, 1776.

"Land of the free." He mused. "Could I ever be free? Free of the burdens... piling up on me?" Rain was falling gently in small flakes. They landed harshly on his trench coat and hair.

"Oh Rose..." He sighed heavily and sat down on a rock. He remembered standing with Rose about one year ago under ash disguised as snow right after the Sycorax's ship was destroyed at Christmas. "I love you. I need you. Come back!" He yelled. His blotchy face turned to the sky, not caring about the real snow. The real snow for once.

He stood up and kicked the rock angrily, not learning from the last time he kicked something. "Bloody hell!!" He yelled, hopping up and down. He could hear Rose say,

"Was that necessary?" She had her tongue on the top of her teeth and was wearing the big smile she alway wore.

"Yes." He replied out loud to himself.

"Did it hurt?" The memories of Rose spoke to him.

"Yes." He frowned. "But it is not as bad as everything else... Rose, I need you back. Oh my dear Rose...  _I love you."_

The Doctor broke down as he could see the memory of Rose step up to him and touch his cheek tenderly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cried while writing this! I barely get emotional while reading. It's only writing something like this that kills me.
> 
> All right. Ok. Calm down. Breath in... Out... 
> 
> So this is based off of season 2 episode 13. Episode Doomsday. Until the connections came back on.
> 
> I'm sorry for all of you right now. Especially the ones who ship Rose and 10. And the emotional ones. So very sorry. Sorry... Not sorry. Weell... Kinda. But-not-really.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Anna, also like the Doctor, looses the one thing she never wanted to leave.

"Oh shut up you moron!" Anna yelled playfully as she lightly shoved Thomas as they stepped away from the carousel and back to the car.

"Annalise Hudson DeReanna! How dare you talk about me that way!" He pushed her back, making her almost fall off the sidewalk and into the grass.

"I can talk anyway I want to buster. And you can't do anything about it." She purred, looping her arm around his and laying her head on his upper arm.

"Of course I can. I can divorce you." Thomas smirked. Straightening his tie with one hand and patting hers.

"But we're not married yet." She stated, her pumps clicking on the black asphalt, the wind picking up the loose tendrils of her black hair and tossing it over her eyes.

"Then I'll un-engage you." He opened the door of his car for Anna to sit in the passenger seat.

"That's not a thing." She yelled over the slam of the car door, grinning. She punched his arm playfully as he turned on the ignition.

He placed his hand on her thigh, right at the hem of her cocktail dress and backed out of the parking spot. He turned onto the major road and stopped at a stoplight. Anna placed her hand on his and leaned her head against the window, it fogging up at the temperature difference both inside and outside.

The light turned green and he gently stepped on the gas, making sure he wouldn't wake up his lovely fiancé. She smiled. He thought she had fallen asleep. Even one glass too many wouldn't do that to her.

But she saw the truck, jolting her back to reality. Anna had her back to the window and saw the large pickup truck head towards Thomas's side. She screamed to Thomas to stop.

Everything moved in slow motion. Thomas's eyes grew wide and Anna screamed again, bound by the laws of gravity and physics. Confined to her seat as she watched the window shatter slowly, falling like snow and the metal break like a chip and bend around Thomas.

She felt the car slide horizontally, eventually buckling under the friction and flipping onto the side, the car completely over her. She yelled as she ended up upside down, her buckle keeping her high, the blood painfully now rushing to her head

Anna felt a sharp pain in her side and looked at the glass that had cut her black-tie dress, revealing metal embedded deep in her flesh. She screamed as her heart pounded in her ears, the pain somehow numb before, now coursing her with each pump of blood.

Her choked scream was pitiful, revealing so much more than she wanted anyone to see, anyone other than her Thomas. Her breath became labored and her chest tight.

The tunnel in her vision slowly closing in, enveloping her in a crackled red and green light on the other side of her eyelids, the pain growing stronger and stronger.

She didn't hear the sirens. She didn't need to see the damage on the driver's side, the damage to Thomas.

Someone was being kind letting her sleep even though it hurt her. Being awake would hurt her so much more.

<|> <|> <|>

"We will always remember him. He will be in our hearts..." Anna finished reading the prompt that she was reading to the friends of Thomas who came. The rain pattered on the roof overhead.

Anna stepped off the podium, her face blank and still in disbelief. She reverently touched the coffin that held Thomas. He looked like a ghost with his makeup that tried to make him look "undead" and his formal suit from prom. She placed one red rose in Thomas's hands and a small white rose in his suit pocket, representing their relationship and marriage that was never coming.

Anna watched as they closed his coffin and slowly pushed it out into the rain. They lowered the box down in the hole under the great oak tree next to his grandparents and father. Her parents graves were just to the right of where she would be if she had died too, by Thomas's side.

Her now dripping wet hair hung over her face in shame. Numbness had fallen over her and she barely felt the water dripping down her back. She heard Thomas's name being called and she gasped.

She barely heard her cue. Anna was supposed to put the first shovel of dirt over the casket. She scooped up a small bit of the wet mud and sprinkled it over. The mud and dirt clods hit the lids with a hollow thud.

Immediately, the shovel was taken out of her hands. Anna watched as several men shoveled the muddy dirt over the coffin.

The funeral was over. Thomas's mother guided Anna to her car.

Larissa opened the door for Anna but she didn't need it. She wasn't physically hurt. Just emotionally. Not a single tear had fallen, not yet.

Before she knew it, Anna was at her "mother-in-law's" fancy manor. Larissa unlocked the door and ushered her in. Warmth hit both of them in the face and welcomed them, telling them to relax. Larissa took off her wet coat and hung the two coats up.

Silently, Mrs. Drew took Anna upstairs to her suite. She placed the suitcase of Anna's belongings by the closet.

Anna sat on the bed and put her face in her hands, her naturally wavy black hair fallen out of the bun it was in earlier, now practically nonexistent and straight. Her dark blue eyes hidden behind her hands, giving Anna darkness and peace, what she needed most.

They had already established that going back to Anna's and Thomas's house would hurt her too much but they didn't know anything and everything she saw and thought would.

"If you need anything, just yell for me. I'll be right outside."

She nodded, giving an extended weak thumbs up. Anna closed her eyes and saw the lights click off from behind her eyelids and hands.

Anna broke. The tears fell quietly, silently somehow. Her chest heaving and her breath shuddering quietly.

The dark room was perfect for tears. No one would judge. No one would look down on her for being weak but she wanted this to end. Soon.

She fell outspread on her new bed which held her gently. Like Thomas. Her tears slowed and she twirled the ring on her left hand until the light from the streetlights could no longer be seen, finally letting sleep give her peace.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet again, more with the sad music. I had to write this again and its very similar to the old version... But better. I hope... Well, probably is.
> 
> I love getting off track! :D
> 
> I'll be able to put up the next chapter soon. I have to edit it and cut a lot out and... You get the point. But I'll have it up in less than a week. Maybe less.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eighteen months later...

Anna sat up suddenly with a shock, her eyes wild and her hair sticking to her neck and back from sweat.

She clutched a hand to her chest, practically clawing at the fabric. She slowly slid back down and tried to nestle her head back into the pillow. "I'm going crazy..." She tried to shut out images from her dream, the eerie walk through a park and a forest, ending up in front of a string of yellow words above her head. POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX.

Anna glanced at the clock and slapped her forehead at the early hour, unpleased. She scrubbed her face, already bored, it only being 5:15.

She made up her mind, knowing there was nothing on this earth that was going to put her back to sleep. She threw off the covers and slid on a bathrobe over her t-shirt and leggings.

Anna wasn't sure how to spend the large block of time so she slid into a wooden chair and pulled her closer to the edge of the desk. She pulled out a paper and several pencils. She started sketching immediately.

Page after page flew by, Anna drawing lines of every different shade. She was completely engrossed, her mind finding pictures that she didn't see and couldn't know but her mind knew how to draw them.

Her hand hurt and, as if on cue, someone knocked on her door of the master suite. She rolled her eyes as she threw her pencil onto the wooden desk. She stood and walked to her door. She thought it might be been Larissa bringing some holiday food. She opened the door with a simple "what."

"Surprise!"

An bright orange haired girl leapt forward and Anna felt the girl wrap her arms around her neck. "Willow?" She asked, her hand still on the doorknob.

"Yup! Hello! It's me." An Irish voice chimed, muffled by her shoulder.

"What do you need?" Anna asked with a sigh, pushing her away to arms length.

"Don't need anything. You do."

"What did you do?" Anna said, placing a hand over her eyes with a groan.

"Well, it's you who need a little bit of Christmas spirit so..."

"No really, what did you do?" Anna sighed.

"It's about... 9:45 in the morning Christmas Day and I took the liberty to decorate your ginormous suite while you were in your room and-"

"Will!!" She interrupted with a cry.

"-And I invited friends from college over. Now you're gonna have to come out of your room! Haha! The Willow strikes again!" She cheered so loudly Anna winced, guessing that Willow had woken someone up.

"Willow... You know I'm not in the mood." She pleaded, wanting to be left alone.

"Anna, the accident was about six months ago. It's time for you to come out of your shell. I just want you to feel better, happy." Willow said softly, patting Anna's back as she walked away.

"Will, look. I'm not ready to move on. Not yet..." She sat on the bed with her face in her hands.

"Okay. I understand. But can you please just come out of your suite for one night? Just because Thomas was killed doesn't mean that his mother hates you. It wasn't your fault"

"I know..." She looked up and gazed at the closed blinds of the window she was facing.

"And I also invited some of our friends from college who weren't away for the holidays. Rather important to meet them don't you think?"

"Yeah." Anna pulled her hair to one side of her and started to fiddle with the ends of it, tapping her toe on the ground in thought. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Great." Willow said calmly but exited. "Come down at six tonight. I'm gonna be helping Larissa cook tonight's dinner."

"Great." Anna huffed, standing up. "Better get to it."

"Well, come on out when you want to." Willow called loudly from the door leaving her suite. Anna heard the door click shut, Willow now marching downstairs.

Anna knew that Willow would want her to get out of her room as soon as possible. She didn't want to but knew her friend wouldn't stop until she had gotten out.

She got up, slapping her knees and walked for the large bathroom. She stepped inside and started the water for the shower.

<|> <|> <|>

The water that had beat on her back helped soothe the stress and massaged her tense muscles. She ran her hand through her wet hair and sighed, breathing in cold clear air compared to the shower's steam.

Walking across the room, pulling on jeans and a cami, she picked up the drawing with one hand, the other brushing her hair.

She peered at the paper, setting the brush down to hold it with both hands. She fingered the lines of the graphite on the paper, the lines creating an angel crying with her arm over her eyes to hide her sorrow.

She was completely confused. She had not drawn since her art class in eighth grade and most of her artwork was terrible and in a trash dump somewhere. She looked at the date and signature both surprised and not at the same time that it was today's date and her signature scrawled across the page.

She peered close to the paper when she saw faint scribbles. She flipped it over and read the light handwriting that she knew was hers but not at the same time, like forgery in a good way.

The small amount of light somehow revealed words. The small, clumsy, but readable words scrawled across the page. She read it aloud, expecting some funny sort of prank from Willow perhaps or something.

_"Don't blink. Don't even blink. They are fast! Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and DON'T BLINK! Good luck."_

Staring at the paper, she opened her drawings folder and slid the sheet carefully inside a plastic sleeve when she saw something.

She flipped through the sheets faster. Every picture had something different. There were only seven pictures including the one she had drawn, all signed with her name and today's date.

The first one was metal, metal men in a line, like they were marching. They were in front of Big Ben herding people with blank stares off to God-knows-where. Large blimps spotted the dark sky. She held it up to the light and was disappointed when she saw no writing.

She turned the page and saw the backs of the same metal men facing a bronze robot, short and with brown and gold casing and an eyepiece that, even though it was a picture, stared into your souls and filled you with dread. She wondered what this was like, if it was an interrogation or a meeting between two... things.

Again, she turned the page and her eyes caught the large room she had drawn. She had not used color for this one but she felt like she knew that the colors was blue and yellow of some sort. The room was strange but... pretty. The hexagon bolts "shimmered" on the walls of the room.

She saw a young and attractive man with a brown overcoat and well-loved white Converse kneeling on the ground with his tongue out and a face of disgust not even hidden by the sunglasses he was wearing. It made Anna smile just a bit as she realized the man had just eaten sand.

Another page revealed a stick, a blue and silver tool of some sort. The sand-eating man held the wand-like tool away from him like Harry Potter pointing a wand at Voldemort.

One last time, she turned the page and the picture made her heart sink with the beauty and pain of it. The glass dome was cracked and smoke was billowing out of the large shattered portion of the dome. Tops of buildings had toppled and some had fallen into the chasm surrounding the citadel like a moat. Green and red beams of light were everywhere, creating fire and smoke everywhere.

Anna closed the binder slowly, thoughtfully. She wondered where she had gotten these photos but stood.

She finished dressing into a red blouse and brown knee length boots. She put on a bit of makeup and brushed her black hair, putting in as little effort as she could get away with. Anna slid on a black wool coat and grabbed her purse and car keys. She locked the door behind her and started walking down the street, eyes unblinking.

The slick sidewalk almost made her slip into the road, but it was was empty, practically deserted. The fog closing in made her feel claustrophobic and cold, although her coat surrounded her with warmth. She was pleased the mixture of rain and snow had stopped.

Anna came to a stop and turned right, walking through a large brown gate. She stood still for a few moments when her eyes rested on an attraction and gathered up the courage needed to walk to the old carousel that had seen so much of her and Thomas. She headed for the carousel slowly. The red and gold structure shimmered under the layers of white.

Anna stepped up on the wooden platform and inched her way over to the two horses. One brown and the other white. She fingered the paint that was slowly chipping off from the heavy use and love from not only her and Thomas, but all the children using it before her. She hopped on the brown one sidesaddle and leaned her head on the cold and twisted gold pole.

"I wish you were here. Thomas, can you give me a sign? Anything. Anything to tell me you are watching me?" She murmured softly.

There was no response.

"What am I doing? It's obvious you can't." She bit her lip and tried to hold back a small tear that wanted to fall. She gave up and let it, first time since the funeral. The tears increased dramatically and her sobs became louder. Normally, she would care but now she didn't.

The carousel started to sing gentle music. Anna felt herself rise and fall gently. She sat up abruptly as the wind picked up as the carousel started to spin.

"There's someone at the controls." Anna stated with a hint of uncertainty in her voice, wiping tears away and hoping they hadn't seen her.

The carousel groaned to a gentle stop and Anna stood up. She dodged horse after horse and stepped up a narrow but sturdy staircase. She opened a door half hidden by a mirror and a bench and looked inside the small room. "No one... No one! What?!"

Find the blue police box.

"What?" Anna asked, spinning around. "Who is that? Who's there?" She just knew it wasn't her thoughts. Her thoughts were less crazy.

The box.

"What?" Anna asked again. She froze, waiting. She waited for what felt like hours and hours, not knowing it was only a minute. She brushed the strange feeling off and looked around, realizing that the light was already dim, touching the treetops and bringing the beginning of twilight.

Anna got off a bench on the carousel, just realizing that she had sat down. She cautiously skipped down the stairs and onto the wide open grass field.

Before she started for home, she had an urge. Something telling her to walk towards the thick forest. She slowly turned away from the lot and towards the edge of the trees.

Anna crossed the wide field slowly, taking out the pocket flashlight. She walked into the trees and a wall of mist greeted her. The moist air tingled against whatever skin was exposed.

She kept walking. She had no idea where she was going but it felt like she had a small compass in her head telling her where to go. She tried to tune out the eerie crunch of leaves and the whistling of the wind through the leafless branches with some success.

She had only been walking north for about five minutes when she heard something even startling. It was a rhythmic groaning and asthmatic... No wait... mechanical, a mechanical sound.

There was a soft thud and she stepped closer to the sound. She looked up about 45* and saw a strand of yellow words, peering through the mist. The words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX.

The mist cleared just a bit. Enough to reveal a old telephone booth, a blue box. It felt so out of place... Both the technology and design. Anna couldn't tell if it was from the past or the future. It seemed both.

She reached out to touch the old box. It hummed at her touch. It felt warm... and familiar to her. Like she had finally found home. She shuddered. It felt like it had life to her. Like it was alive.

She walked around the wooden box, her hand never leaving the wood. She ran her hand over the wear and tear on the paint and fingered the old holes on the sides. She read the sign on the left door carefully and slowly.

_Police Telephone_   
_FREE_   
_For Use Of_   
_PUBLIC_   
_Advice and Assistance_   
_Obtainable Immediately_   
_Officers & Cars _   
_Respond to All Calls_   
_PULL TO OPEN_

She couldn't resist it. She pulled to open just like the sign had told her too but it didn't move. She pushed it and felt it give gently. Her hand wrapped around the edge of the door.

Anna stepped in and pocketed her flashlight based on the fact she could see the other side of the door she had closed very well. She turned around and a cry of shock escaped her lips without her knowing.

"Oh... My... God..." She breathlessly whispered. She started to take in the strangeness of the... room.

There was a carpet that extended just to the end of the ramp. Her boots clinked on the metal grating that kept her above wires and cords and a bunch of other objects. "No...way..."

Her eyes wide, she stared at the large room. The golden glow against the walls was beautiful. The bolts on the walls created other shades reflecting off of the metal. Weird supports that looked like trees without leaves reflected both the gold and a turquoise light. She looked for the source of the blue light.

There was a cylinder that went from the ceiling to a display of buttons, levers, switches, keys, and numerous other controls. What do they do? She ran her fingers over the keys of an old computer. The cylinder glowed the lovely shade of turquoise with some sort of energy pulsing through the air. "It's... not real. It can't be! It's impossible!" She yelled.

"What?!"

Anna turned around, confused as to where the cry had come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the traditional "What?" from the Doctor. :D
> 
> Next chapter in what... Five minutes? Won't have to wait too long. 
> 
> ~Jessie


	4. Chapter 4

She turned to see who who had spoken. She spun around quickly and that was her mistake, hitting a body hard. A man had accidentally shouldered Anna's nose and he had heard an "ow" from her.

"Sorry!" He yelped, completely shocked.

Staggering back, Anna tripped over her own foot. She hit the floor squarely, her back impacting most of the fall and her breath fluttering out of her like butterflies escaping captivity for the first time.

She couldn't see. Only thing Anna could saw was black and stars. Something thick and metallic-smelling oozed down her nose. It ticked her lip and she wiped it away.

Her vision cleared slightly and her tunnel vision opened up a bit, her able to take in a little bit more. She groaned as she sat up, holding her elbow which she had cut when she had hit the harsh grating.

"I'm... sorry." The man stuttered in surprise, his voice reaching high sounds that normally girls used when fangirling.

Anna tried to stand up, using a railing to help. She stood up blindly, bending over a bit and almost losing her balance. Anna felt the man catch her quickly and help her onto her feet and then onto a chair.

The man told her would be right back as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She opened her eyes when she felt a presence in front of her. Barely visible was a damp, white cloth and she took it, wiping the blood away and tilting her head back.

Hearing a faint buzzing sound, she looked around the room for the man she had collided with.

"Well, you don't have a concussion. Just a slight bump." Anna gasped almost silently as she could see the man now. He didn't notice her intake of breath and continued scanning her, watching her pupils dilate, with the metal wand she had seen in her drawings.

He looked to be in his mid or upper twenties or thirties. Anna wasn't quite sure. But she remembered him from the drawing, his skinny frame to his darkly colored suit and his spiked hair to his old brown eyes.

His eyes were striking in an odd way. The seemed old and tired and at the same time young and excited. Curiosity was reaching high levels but sorrow and anger flickered ferociously, small and barely visible.

"Probably will be sore for a few days. The bruises shouldn't be too bad." He said and tucked the _screwdriver?_ away with a large smile, one that she knew many girls had fallen for and only expecting there to be more in the future.

"I should get going." Anna said shakily.

"Why?" The man asked.

"Because it's getting dark and my friend is expecting me for dinner." She hoped it would work, him let her go and let her go home. "She's probably needs some help."

"I can be useful. I'll be your plus one." He stated casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No." Anna laughed uneasily. "I don't want Willow getting any ideas."

"Ahh." He leaned back then started walking. "Okay then. Where to?" He asked, standing by the computer.

"What?" Anna coughed. "What do you mean by 'where to'?"

"I mean by 'Where do you live? I'll take you home.' You didn't have the jingle of keys when you fell so you must've walked."

"I did." Anna tapped her toe on the grating, looking down at it then stopped, looking up at him. "How would we get there? Are you going to walk me home?"

"Spaceship." He stated, gesturing to the room. "It's called a TARDIS." Her quizzical look make him continue with a casual smile. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It's a time machine and a spaceship."

"Oh." She nodded. "But... how come it's huge in here?"

"The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental." He stated, rubbing the back of his neck with a smile.

"Dimensionally tran-what?" She huffed but her eyes flicked with curiosity. "Speak in English please."

"The interior and the exterior exist in separate dimensions." He said, giving her a smile. He liked how cheeky this girl was and only expected more is she stayed.

"Huh." Anna looked around.

"So where to?" He asked, breaking the sudden silence.

"6521 E Adams Main Drive. Seattle Washington."

"American?" He asked, confused.

"British?" Anna responded, mocking his tone.

"Am I in the... Americas?" He whispered and shifted his weight, not uncomfortably but as if he was about to walk forward.

"Yup. Unless I'm a tourist in the UK that's really good at lying." She said a little harshly and folded her hands behind her.

"You could've fooled me, daft old thing I am." He poked a thumb on his chest and then started running around the controls, ignoring Anna's confused look and flipping several switched and buttons. "Hold tight!"

The groaning sound Anna had heard earlier echoed through the TARDIS and the lights faded and brightened with the sound. The sound continued when the room shook, making Anna almost fall over and put her into a warrior stance.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelped over the clamour.

"Flying!" He laughed.

"Seems like we're falling!" She rolled her eyes but prayed silently they wouldn't get hurt.

"I know. Much more fun this way." He said grabbing onto the console as the TARDIS rattled, shaking Anna onto the floor.

Groaning, Anna got up from the floor. "You had better have gotten this right or I have gotten another bruise for nothing."

"Come on!" The man laughed and helped her to her feet, ushering her to the door

"We moved." Anna stated, impressed while looking at the manor.

"Told ya it was a spaceship." He smiled and looked at a gold pocket watch he had taken out of his pocket. "And it's quarter til eighteen hundred, your time."

"Cool."

"What's your name?"

"Anna, Anna Drew."

"Brilliant name. Simple but sweet." He flashed her yet another smile. Oh, Anna knew this man was a charmer. "I'm the Doctor by the way."

"The Doctor?" She asked, then became very confused as the name sank in. "Your name is actually The Doctor. Like on your birth certificate it says 'The Doctor'. Does that mean you don't have a last name?"

"I do. But 'The Doctor' is the name I chose."

"What kind of a person goes by 'Doctor'?... Unless you're not a..." She murmured in confusion. Her blue eyes rapidly scanning him from head to toe.

"Yes. I'm alien. Now hustle along. Don't want to be late for supper. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"You could come with me."

"I'd love to but... I can't."

"I can take you to places you could never have dreamed of, places where the imagination of heaven from the Bible seem like an unpolished citrus diamond, places were no being has walked before. And I can take you anywhere and everywhere in time for dinner. Right here, right now."

"I can't." Anna's face fell with her heart and the Doctor could see the pain.

"I understand." He said, his heart lurching forward. He too remembered loss. He'd just lost Donna as a friend and Martha had gotten engaged. And of course, Rose, dead.

"Will we meet again?"

"I imagine not. Unless you go looking for aliens and trouble." He smiled. She was going to pull a Donna, look for him while he was traveling.

"Okay." She nodded. "Then I'll see you later."

"Goodbye Anna Drew. I hope we meet again." He said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. She smiled softly, carefully. The Doctor vowed that when he saw her again, he'd get her pain to be forgotten and make her smile.

He watched as Anna walked away, up the flagstone walkway and to the oak door. She waved a small goodbye and shut the door with a barely audible click.

Anna felt a warm rush of air and headed up to her room. She opened the door for her suite and hung up her damp coat. She looked at the clock and saw that the man, the Doctor, was right. His timing was perfect.

Anna set her purse down and sat on an alcove, staring out to where the Doctor's box was. She saw him disappear into the TARDIS with a swish of a light brown overcoat.

The unmistakeable blue was even brighter in the new sunlight, but with each grind of the sound, the TARDIS grew fainter and fainter, dimmer and dimmer. A strange electric whirr signaled that it was fully gone.

"I should've gone."

"What?" A voice made Anna jump. Willow had walked on in without knocking again and Anna frowned .

"Nothing. And please, at least knock before you come in."

"Okay. But what were you talking about?" Willow sat on the alcove by Anna's feet. After a few seconds her face lit up. "Did you met a guy?!"

"What? No!" Anna lied, hoping to fool Willow.

"Anna. Don't lie to me. We're best friends. You can't lie to me. You'll never get away with it." She laughed and poked Anna in the ribs right where a bruise had formed, making her wince slightly.

"Okay. It was a man." Anna confessed. “But don't get any ideas.” She growled.

"Not yet!” She laughed. “What was he like?"

"Strange. Very strange." She trailed off.

"What did he want?"

"Well, I stumbled across him and then he wanted me to come along travel with him." She chose her words carefully, not wanting Willow to know fully what happened.

"Why didn't you?" Willow asked, confused. Then her face lit up with, understanding. "Oh Anna. Really!" She stood up. "That was the opportunity of a lifetime and you just... let it slide right through your fingers. Oh Anna..."

"I know. I'm going to look for him." She said blankly, staring out the window and looking at the person walking towards the place where the TARDIS had been. "And I'm going to travel with him. Even to the ends of the universe." 

 

<|> <|> <|>

If you watched the Doctor's TARDIS when it had left, you should've seen it kick up a small storm of leaves and dust.

You would have waited for the debris to clear. Upon the ground, after the small storm, you could seen a garbage can had been knocked over.

The air would still be stirring like it does every time the Doctor leaves and you might step closer, your hair slightly rippling in the wind. The wind will pick up a paper and it would hop and flutter on the ground towards you.

It would land on the brick before your feet and you must pick it up, carefully and slowly. You might read the neat handwriting out loud.

_Red Phoenix will fly_   
_But soon she will fall._   
_Red Phoenix will die_   
_And then she will call!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week. I promise an update!
> 
> ~Jessica


End file.
